Vacuum curettage has received recent and extensive attention in the art as an improved means for pregnancy termination, endometrial biopsy, menstrual regulation, spontaneous incomplete abortion, and outpatient or office curettage, as well as other conditions. The vacuum procedure promises advantages over the conventional sharp curettage procedure in that more effective evacuation is obtained in a shorter time and with a lesser loss of blood. The art has come to recognize that there is a lesser likelihood of residual material remaining in the uterus after vacuum curettage than with sharp curettage.
In vacuum curettage, an elongated tube is used in which an aspiration inlet is provided at the front or proximal end, and to which a connecting vacuum end is joined to the rear or distal end. The normal procedure provides for dilating the cervix of the uterus to a size greater than the tube or curette so that the curette may be introduced into the uterus to the full depth of the endometrial cavity. The practitioner moves the front end of the curette over the surface of the uterus and suction induces the fetal or gestational tissue, or other biological material, through the aspiration inlet. This tissue is usually passed out of the curette into a communicating vacuum trap or container. A prior art vacuum curette system is disclosed, for example, in U.S. Pat. No. 3,542,031, in which a vacuum source is applied to a container to withdraw tissue collected by the curette through a stopper and into a tissue collection chamber. It will be appreciated, however, that the prior art as exemplified by the aforementioned U.S. Pat. No. 3,542,031, has inherent drawbacks which to a great extent limit its application.
For example, the system of the aforenoted patent requires the practitioner to have a vacuum pump at his disposal when employing the curette system described therein. Not only is this a relatively expensive item, but its operation requires additional specialized knowledge not necessarily possessed by the relatively large number of practitioners who are now employing such systems as a result of recent changes in the law with regard to the performance of abortions.